Random Conversation 2.0

E3 is next week, I can't wait. Hope they have some more info on FarCry3, & Assassin's Creed III, & Bioshock Infinite, with also some Info on Black Ops II
 
Archman said:
Gang,
I was reading a book the other night.....The name of the book is:
"7 Tipping points that saved the world" by author Chris Steward.
All seven narratives tie back into how precious our freedom has become in our generation and developed countries.......I just had to share with you a small gut-wrenching anecdote excerpt taken from the book to get your take on the hell of living in a repressive society in years gone past:

Hangchow, China 230 BC Just before the reign of Emperor Shih HuangTi
ZHU RAUN SUNG WAS Only twelve, but he already understood the most important lessons that life had to teach. He knew how to work. He knew how to get by on nothing but a daily bowl of rice with an occasional chicken foot or rat bone for sustenance. He knew when to talk and when to be silent, when to bow and when to run. He knew he would honor his father and their ancestors until the day that he died, just as his children would honor him even in his old age. He knew that in four years he would marry a girl he might care for or maybe not, the primary purpose of the marriage being to produce children who could labor alongside him on the ragged piece of land that they were tasked to work. He knew he would never own his own home or even an animal except for maybe a rabbit or a dog. Every piece of ground, every hut, every building, city wall, shop, water hole, and piece of furniture or food belonged to the royal family and no one else.
Most important, he knew that he and his family would always live to serve the royals and their warriors, surrendering everything they had, even providing their children as a human sacrifice if the occasion presented itself.
Had Zhu Raun been born in a more forgiving time, he might have risen to a position of favor or power, for he was handsome and intelligent and willing to take a chance. But that wasn't to be. And Zhu Raun knew it. His expectations had been adjusted to the realities of his day.
Lying on the dirt floor, a cushion of cottonwood leaves for his bed, Zhu Raun looked around the one-room shack in the early morning light. His mother and father slept beside him, his younger brother and two sisters balled together at his feet. A couple of pigs had slipped through the open door and were sleeping in the slant of sunlight shining through the cracks in the thatch roof. The shack was situated in one of a dozen small villages half a day's walk from the Great City's outer wall. Three hundred thousand people lived inside the city, a number Zhu Raun couldn't begin to comprehend, but he was not one of them. Indeed, he had been inside the city only a few times in his life. But having been inside the city, he knew that the nobles lived a life of luxury that was beyond his dreams.
Turning his head, Zhu Raun looked at the glistening goblets his father had created in the kiln that he and a hundred other farmers shared beside the communal well. His eyes grew wide as he stared at the beautiful creations. They were quite simply the most wonderful things he had ever seen. Brilliant, with red swans and purple wildflowers-ers, the gifts represented at least a quarter of his family's total wealth. And today they would be given to the royal family and buried with the king.
The tradition went back an unknown number of generations. When a king died, hundreds—or, if he had been particularly powerful, thousands—of slaves and peasants were sacrificed and buried with him, along with the most valuable treasures the empire's peasants could produce.
Today, along with their beautiful gifts, the village would offer up a child to be sacrificed to the king.
And though he didn't know it yet, 2hu Raun was going to be that sacrifice.
Three hours later, his head bowed, his heart racing so hard he thought it might explode, 2hu Raun had a rope tightened around his neck and was led away.
As he walked, his hands bound, the biting rope making it difficult to breathe, he built the courage to glance back at his family. His mother was on her knees, weeping into her palms. His father stood beside her, one hand on her shoulder, his chest trembling with rage. His younger brother and little sisters had already been led away, protected from the terrifying scene by the kindness of friends.
As Zhu Raun nodded to his father, a sudden thought raced through his mind. Will it always be this way? he wondered in fear and grief.
Then the rope was tugged and he was mercilessly pulled away. And because the world wasn't ready yet, another eighteen hundred years would pass away.
Click to expand...

Definitely a worthwhile read. It touches the heart and makes a person think about the blessings and freedoms we tend to take for granted. It also reminds us that there are always others who have it worse than we do, and that we need to be thankful for what we have rather than complaining about what we don't.

Thank you for posting this, Arch.
 
Athena said:
dumbgirl.jpg
Click to expand...

LOL, guilty for at least two of them.
Didnt know "giving the finger" is a dumb girl pose...:D
 
JordanC said:
:p Which two? I've never taken a pic giving the finger. Can't be a girly thing. The "above pic" makes him look 100 lbs thinner and he needed it . :smt090
Click to expand...

I took a pic giving the finger and I did the peace thing. Come to think about it, I did the Duck lips too....LOL
You are right about the 100 lbs .....:D
 
Dear Mark Zuckerburg,

Facebook going public wasn't going to yield the results you were hoping for...unless you knew this would happen and leave with a extra pocket change. Social networking websites, once they've hit their high point, will eventually go down, down, down. Certainly, Facebook has acquired great success and did things MySpace, Friendster, and other social networking websites cannot do.

It doesn't require insider trading to know that the whole IPO wasn't a good idea. So keep in mind, stocks will fall, and may experience some rises here and there. Hopefully one day, there will be something of a Steve Jobs' like scenario, but as it stands now, it's a fizzle.

Sincerely,

Someone-Smart-Enough-Not-Investing-In-Social-Networking-Sites.
 
Okay so I wasn't going to post this, but I'll do it anyway...hey it could gain something good, actually lool so here goes nothing:

A lot of people view life differently....some view it as negative, others view it as positive. A few view it as objects such as a video game...or maybe even like a cat. Want to hear what I think life is like?

Life is like a book. A book contains all the chapters, protagonists, antagonists, plot-lines, story-lines, conflicts, etc....that's life too in its own way. Our lives are basically books that we and others want to write on, based off of our expierences and gained knowledge from one period of time to the next. We are the main protagonists in our own story, and we have many methods on completing one conflict after another, and so on. And when our times end in our lives, so are our books that we've filled in. These books are comeplete, just waiting for future generations to read along and to be fascinsated by our choices and our lifestyle that we've added into the story.

So....what's life like for me? A good book in the making. =)
 
LibraPrincess said:
Okay so I wasn't going to post this, but I'll do it anyway...hey it could gain something good, actually lool so here goes nothing:

A lot of people view life differently....some view it as negative, others view it as positive. A few view it as objects such as a video game...or maybe even like a cat. Want to hear what I think life is like?

Life is like a book. A book contains all the chapters, protagonists, antagonists, plot-lines, story-lines, conflicts, etc....that's life too in its own way. Our lives are basically books that we and others want to write on, based off of our expierences and gained knowledge from one period of time to the next. We are the main protagonists in our own story, and we have many methods on completing one conflict after another, and so on. And when our times end in our lives, so are our books that we've filled in. These books are comeplete, just waiting for future generations to read along and to be fascinsated by our choices and our lifestyle that we've added into the story.

So....what's life like for me? A good book in the making. =)
Click to expand...

Well said!
 
Kate Upton is the sexual interest of horny men, as Justin Bieber is to horny girls.

So in conclusion:

Kate Upton = Justin Bieber.

Case closed.
 
I guess there are a few benefits to tearing apart an old house. My son found a porn dvd under the floorboards. The best part? It's IR! Says so right on the dvd...;)
 
I got in to a prestigious law school. Damn, now I kind of like what I do, the money has been really good and I have been promoted as a lead person for my team. Dilemma, dilemma, dilemma ….Fuck fuck fuck….. making money & name for myself OR going back to hard core program to study my butt off. I dunno?????? Fuck me.
 
Refugee said:
I got in to a prestigious law school. Damn, now I kind of like what I do, the money has been really good and I have been promoted as a lead person for my team. Dilemma, dilemma, dilemma ….Fuck fuck fuck….. making money & name for myself OR going back to hard core program to study my butt off. I dunno?????? Fuck me.
Click to expand...

Congrats....now go make that name for yourself....!!!:smt023
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom